[Japan] Media Create sales for Week 1, 2017 (Jan. 02 – Jan. 08)

Media Create – Software

The first week of the year is always a pretty good week for the video game market in Japan, due to the several public holiday and kids spending their New Year money (Otoshidama) on games and consoles. As a result, sales are up for many games this week, especially family-friendly titles that sell well on the long run.

Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS is back at #1 with 100 308 units sold (+37%). It starts the year in the best way possible, though unfortunately, sales will start dropping from next week. There’s no doubt it will reach 1 million units sold LTD, though it’s going to take a bit longer now that the holiday period is over.

It’s currently sitting at 890 838 units sold since launch (not counting digital sales), and it should be able to overcome Super Mario Maker (Wii U) in the upcoming weeks.

As for Pokémon Sun and Moon, it did not manage to sell 100 000 units this week, though at least it sales were stable (-1%). It sold 90 298 units this week, and 3 039 585 units since launch. It’s now sold over 3 million units at retail, and that’s without the dual-pack or digital sales.

As of Week 48, the dual-pack has sold 314 984 units (counted as two units), which means that total sales for Pokémon Sun and Moon are sitting at around 3 354 569 units (not counting digital sales). Now, it remains to be seen how Pokémon Sun and Moon will perform in the upcoming weeks (will it reach 4 million units LTD?), especially with the rumoured Nintendo Switch version.

Next, we have Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! at #3 with 47 905 units sold during its third week on the market (-25%). It’s now sold over 200 000 units, and will top 250 000 units next week. Depending on how strong sales are on the long run, it should be able to top 500 000 units sold when all things are said and done.

Speaking of Momotaro Dentetsu, here’s how the Nintendo Selects version of the last Wii games sold this week:

Next, let’s take a look at how various Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games have been performing during this New Year week:

05./08. [3DS] Miitopia (Nintendo) – 23.867 / 144.838 (+31%). The real test will start next week, once the holiday boost has dissipated. Unfortunately, it’s likely we will not see Miitopia very often outside of weeks with public holidays…

06./04. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki (Level 5) – 23.698 / 585.206 (-52%). Sales should have been stronger, but it looks like shortages once again came to crash the party. At the very least, it should have no trouble reaching 600 000 units sold within the next couple of weeks;

08./09. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) – 15.512 / 101.354 (+43%). It will be interesting to see how long it will remain in the Top 20, now that the holiday period is over;

10./10. [3DS] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Heroes (Konami) – 13.766 / 73.560 (+29%). After a really disappointing debut, this Nintendo 3DS entry has been selling rather steadily, though unfortunately, it will most likely be one of the first titles to leave the Top 20 now that the holiday period is over…

11./11. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition (Microsoft Game Studios) – 13.391 / 271.044 (+38%). It should be able to top 300 000 units sold at retail, though it’s going to take a little while now that the holiday period is behind us;

12./15. [3DS] Mario Party: Star Rush (Nintendo) – 10.293 / 145.318 (+44%). Another game that will most likely leave the Top 20 rather quickly, only to pop back up during holiday weeks;

14./19. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) – 8.946 / 2.723.302 (+56%). Despite launching in 2011, this one is still hanging around in the Top 20, but not for long anymore…

16./23. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot (Nintendo) – 8.225 / 525.226. Thanks to New Year, Kirby makes its comeback in the Top 20, though it will most likely be gone again by next week;

Media Create – Hardware

Hardware-wise, sales are up this week for both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS, though obviously only the latter are relevant. With 3 147 units sold this week, the Wii U gets one last “hurrah” (and a pretty weak one to boot), before sliding back into oblivion… for good this time.

With the Nintendo Switch coming soon, the holiday period being over, and Nintendo keeping shipments as low as possible, Wii U sales are going to drop sharply in the upcoming weeks. It will be pretty “interesting” to see how long it takes for the console to drop below 1000 units/week…

As for the Nintendo 3DS, it sold 88 878 units this week: that’s a really solid performance, much better than expected. Not only is it back as the top-selling platform, but it also managed to sell better than during the same week in 2016 (60 479 units)… which already was better than the same week in 2015 (57 674 units).

Once again, the contribution of the Nintendo 2DS in total Nintendo 3DS sales is quite noticeable, though even without that model, said sales would still be up Year on Year for Week 1. The Nintendo 2DS has now sold over 300 000 units since launch.

Speaking of the Nintendo 3DS, both Famitsu and Media Create have stopped tracking the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo 3DS XL. This was expected, as the Nintendo 3DS XL was discontinued a long time ago, and the OG Nintendo 3DS most definitely will be in the upcoming weeks. Both models have been selling a negligible amount of units throughout 2016, too.

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